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Longest Senate filibusters in history

Sen. Ted Cruz carried on his advocacy for the defunding of "Obamacare" for almost 22 hours before finally ending on Wednesday. Though Cruz's effort was technically not a filibuster, take a look at the longest Senate filibusters in history.

7. Robert Byrd (14 hours, 13 minutes)

The West Virginia Democrat held up the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by filibustering it in June of that year.

6. Huey Long (15 hours, 30 minutes)

The Democrat from Louisiana nicknamed "The Kingfish" wanted mandatory Senate approval for senior officials in President Franklin Roosevelt's National Recovery Administration, sparking his filibuster in June 1935.

5. William Proxmire (16 hours, 12 minutes)

In 1981, the Democrat from Wisconsin put up a fiery filibuster against raising the nation's debt limit.

4. Robert La Follette (18 hours, 23 minutes)

The Wisconsin Republican halted efforts on a bill in 1908 to allow the U.S. Treasury to lend money to banks during financial crises.

3. Wayne Morse (22 hours, 26 minutes)

The Oregon Democrat's talkathon in 1953 railed against a bill to give states control over oil leases. (Pictured here with former President Lyndon B. Johnson on the right)

2. Alfonse D'Amato (23 hours, 30 minutes)

A Republican senator from New York, D'Amato took to the floor in 1986 to protest an amendment to a defense bill that would have blocked funding for a jet fighter built in his state.

1. Strom Thurmond (24 hours, 18 minutes)

The South Carolina Democrat launched the longest filibuster in Senate history to try to prevent the body from voting on the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Cots were brought in from a nearby hotel for the legislators to sleep on while Thurmond discussed increasingly irrelevant and obscure topics, including his grandmother's biscuit recipe.

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